Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 14 on conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine recources for sustainable development which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the 'European Green Deal'.

SDG 14 aims to protect and ensure the sustainable use of oceans. This includes the reduction of marine pollution and the impacts of ocean acidification, the ending of overfishing and the conservation of marine and coastal areas and ecosystems. SDG 14 has strong interdependencies with a broad range of other SDGs, as oceans sustain coastal economies and livelihoods, contribute to food production and function as a carbon sink.

The indicator can be considered as similar to the global SDG indicator 14.3.1 "Average marine acidity (pH) measured at agreed suite of representative sampling stations".

Recognising the limitations of tackling ocean governance at a Member State or European level, the EU is working to ensure a stronger system of ocean governance to achieve the conservation and sustainable use of both regional and international waters. The EU has also a range of strategies which aim to mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions including CO₂.

The indicator shows the global yearly mean surface seawater acidity expressed as pH value. The decline in pH observed on a global scale corresponds to an increase in the acidity of ocean water and vice versa. This trend is caused by an increase in atmospheric CO2, which increases the uptake of CO2 by oceans. This is directly correlated with ocean pH. The Copernicus Marine Service has reconstructed the global yearly mean surface seawater pH from 1985 onwards, based on a combination of methods which make use of in situ and remote-sensing data, as well as empirical relationships.

global pH value

Calendar year

Indicator from non-ESS source. For assessment of accuracy please refer to the original source (see link to external data source and metadata in section “Annexes”).

Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS)

Data source: Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS)

Data provider: CMEMS (through Mercator Ocean International)

Every year

Indicator is updated annually in February.

> T+2 years

New data points are disseminated within 2 years after the reference year.

Not Applicable

No data for individual countries are presented.

Not Applicable

Indicator does not refer to individual countries.

> 10 years

Presented time series starts in year 1988.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

see dataset  sdg_14_50

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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